About the First Year Experience

Foundations of Excellence is a process that will…

• revitalize FSU’s approach to the first year;
• moves the discussion of retention at FSU to a more intentional focus on educational quality;
• help FSU move away from a piecemeal approach to the first year toward an intentional comprehensive approach;
• focus on FSU’s behavior rather than student behavior;
• draw from  more than three decades of reform and research to improve the first year at FSU;
• engage FSU faculty, staff, and students in first-year reform effort;
• link FSU academic and student affairs in a collegial process;
• involve FSU’s institutional research / assessment professionals;
• extend beyond unit-level assessment to institution-wide assessment;,
• utilizes qualitative assessment supported by quantitative data and external support,
• be integrated with accreditation-related assessment measurements; and,
• result in a plan for change at FSU that will lead to significant first-year improvement.

The Foundations of Excellence Task Force is comprised of a Steering Committee and nine Dimensional Committees.  Nine committees will evaluate the current situation at FSU on the basis of one of the nine foundational dimensions and then recommend actions for improvement.  The university’s final report and action plan will be developed by the Steering Committee.